English 405

English 405: Writing and Gender Spring 2002

Professor Hans Ostrom

Office: Wyatt Hall 336

Phone: x3434 (voice mail); email = ostrom@ups.edu

Home page = www.ups.edu/faculty/ostrom/

(I will post a copy of this syllabus on the home page.)

Office Hours: T-Th 10:00-11:30 and by appointment. I am on campus five days a week and frequently around the office; drop by and chat about the course.

Objectives of the Course

English 405 explores the dynamics of gender as they manifest themselves in prose and poetry, in rhetorical and literary analysis, in the cinema, and in your own writing. We will read and discuss a variety of texts providing historical, sociopolitical, personal, and theoretical perspectives on concepts of gender; we will read fiction, nonfiction prose, and poetry. The writing in the course will be in several genres, some academic and some not. Indeed, by means of writing--as well as reading and discussion--we will interrogate categories and genres of writing, as well as notions of "audience" and "authorship," because they can reflect complexities of gender.

In addition to defining "gender" and related concepts, we will use writing and reading to explore how gender is variously linked to, influenced by, and in conflict with ethnicity, family, State, geography, sexuality, and so forth. With regard to these issues, we will consider recent work in literary, cultural, and rhetorical theory. Most of the required texts are by women because women have contributed so significantly and diversely to explorations of gender and also because women writers are arguably still under-represented in a variety of curricula. Nonetheless, the texts include work by and about men.

Required Texts

Poetry

Rita Dove, Selected Poems. New York: Vintage, 1993.

Prose (Memoir and Fiction)

Colette, The Claudine Novels (in one volume). New York: Penguin, 1995.

(continued)

Marya Hornbacher, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood. New York: Perseus, 1995.

Cultural Studies/Theory

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction (Volume 1). New York: Vintage, 1990.

Peter F. Murphy, Studs, Tools, and the Family Jewels: Metaphors Men Live By. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.

Photocopied material (rhetorical & composition theory), as needed.

My Expectations

Prompt, regular attendance is crucial, as is thoughtful contribution to class discussion. Please keep up with the reading and writing schedules. We will view some films; attendance at these screenings is a requirement of the course.

Poetry, fiction, and memoir tend to be more accessible than readings in cultural studies and literary & rhetorical theory. The books by Foucault and Murphy are relatively accessible, however; nonetheless, they require some work and patience, so stick with that reading, break it down, make use of it.

This is essentially a senior seminar. The more energy and ideas you bring to it, the better.

Grading

Note: the percentages are only approximate.

Autobiographical journal with six substantial entries: roughly 20 per cent

Two critical-analysis essays: roughly 20 per cent each, 40 per cent total

Creative project: roughly 15 per cent

Overall participation, including--but certainly not limited to--discussion of reading: roughly 25 per cent; one expectation is that everyone will have completed the reading for class and jotted down some ideas and questions for discussion; I will often call on people and ask them to start a discussion based on such ideas and questions.

Concerning February 6 and 8: Every few years, I attend a professional conference that takes place during the semester. This is one of those years. I’ve been invited to participate in "An International Symposium on the Art, Life, & Legacy of Langston Hughes" at the University of Kansas in early February. (Hughes’s 100^th birthday is in February, and he spent part of his youth in Kansas.) Consequently, there will be no class-meetings on February 6 and 8.

Schedule

Please bring the syllabus to class each session so that you may note any changes in the schedule.

Wednesday, January 23. Introduction to the course. Some writing and discussion. Begin reading Colette right away. Photocopy of "Sex," from Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, by Raymond Williams, distributed.

Friday, January 25. Overview of issues and questions. Gender and language (especially metaphor); gender and sexuality; gender, sexuality, repression, and power; language, repression, and power: looking for connections between and among these concepts. Read photocopy of the keyword, "Sex." Read Murphy, Metaphors Men Live By, 3-13 and Chapter One. Read Foucault, The History of Sexuality, 3-13.

Monday, January 28. Read at least one half of Colette, Claudine at School. Look at implicit definitions and boundaries of gender in the novel, look at power-relationships, and look at metaphors. Generating ideas for autobiographical writing.

Wednesday, January 30. Finish Claudine at School. Claudine as "writer."

Friday, February 1. For today read Foucault, part two, 17-49.

Monday, February 4. For today, read Rita Dove, "Introduction" and "In the Old Neighborhood," as well as 42-54 and 105-119.

Wednesday, February 6. NO CLASS-MEETING.

Friday, February 8. NO CLASS-MEETING.

Monday, February 11. Bring Rita Dove’s book to class; continue discussing her poetry. Also for today, read at least half of Claudine in Paris.

Wednesday, February 13. For today read Murphy, 38-75 (two chapters). Start reading Foucault, 53-131.

Friday, February 15. For today finish Claudine in Paris. Essay-topics distributed, discussed.

Monday, February 18. For today, complete your reading of Foucault, 53-131. Applying Foucault to Colette and Murphy. Start making your list of "metaphors women live by."

Wednesday, February 20. One-page discussion/outline of your specific essay-topic due.